Gun mounting with magazine and spent ammunition collector



Q Feb. 11, 1958 L. STEVENS 2,822,731

GUN MOUNTING WITH MAGAZINE AND SPENTAMMUNITION COLLECTOR Filed Oct. 14, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 //v VENTDR I LEOIVHPD SET 5N6,

Bag- 110M? L. STEVENS Feb. 11, 1958v GUN MOUNTING WITH MAGAZINEAND SPENT AMMUNITION COLLECTOR 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. .14, 1954 INVENTUR LEON/7X0 -57Z=V5V51 ATTDP/NEY Feb. 11, 1958 L. STEVENS 2,822,731

GUN MOUNTING WITH MAGAZINE AND SPENT AMMUNITION COLLECTOR Filed Oct. 14, 1954 :s Sheets-Sheet 3 United States Patent GUN MOUNTING WITH MAGAZINE AND SPENT AMIVIUNITION COLLECTOR Leonard Stevens, Grantham, England, assignor to Brevets Aero-Mecaniqnes S. A., Geneva, Switzerland, a Swiss society Application October 14, 1954, Serial No. 462,325

Claims priority, application Great Britain October 15, 1953 3 Claims. (CI. 89-37) This invention relates to gun mountings and is applied to mountings of guns automatically supplied with ammunition from a magazine carried by or with the mounting in its aiming movement.

With the high rate of fire obtained with modern weapons, the loss of weight of ammunition expended can quickly and seriously affect balance about either of the aiming axes unless the centre of gravity of the magazine or magazines lies on the respective axis and remains so despite expenditure of ammunition.

The maintenance of balance despite expenditure of ammunition is of particular importance in a mounting aimed solely by the manual etiort of a gunner without power assistance. In a powered mounting, in which the gun is mechanically held on aim, loss of balance may be only of secondary importance, perhaps only increasing the elfect of any slack or lost motion in the power transmission system, but for manual aiming a Wellbalanced mounting which is not subject to rapid changes in the eflFort required to move or hold the mounting on air is essential for accurate aiming. The invention is, however, not restricted to manually aimed mountings.

The present invention provides a means of maintaining balance of the mounting of a gun despite loss of weight due to expenditure of ammunition.

, According to the invention, in a gun mounting having a magazine for supplying live ammunition components and a collector for receiving spent ammunition components, the collector is so arranged with respect to at least one of the aiming axes of the mounting that it has a meanline-of leverage to such axis effective in the same direction as the mean line of leverage of the'magazine to such axis and longer than such magazine lineof leverage in the same ratio as the weight of a live ammunition component is greater than the weight of a spent ammunition component.

1 The term ammunition component is used to include not only a cartridge but also a connecting or positioning member associated therewith, such as a clip when provided for connecting one live cartridge to another in a belt of ammunition, the clip or other member being separated from the live cartridge when the latter is loaded into the gun but being collected with the spent cartridge ejected from thegun.

By the arrangement of the present invention, the weight of a spent ammunition component in the collector has substantially the same moment about the respective aiming axis as the weight of a live ammunition component in the magazine, the loss in the weight of the charge and projectile being compensated by the longer line .of leverage of the collector as compared with the magazine.-

The two aiming axes of agun'r'nounting comprise the trunnion axis, which is the normally horizontaLaxis about which the gun, or sometimes themounting as a whole, is moved in elevation or layed, and the training axis, which is a normally vertical axis about which the gun, or more usually the whole'mounting, is moved in azimuth.

It is usually possible to arrange the magazine or magazines of a gun mounting so that provision for maintenance of balance in accordance with the invention will usually be required only in respect of one aiming axis.

Two embodiments of the invention are illustrated on the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a side elevation,

Fig. 2 is a front elevation and Fig. 3 is a side elevation showing a dilferent position, of a single gun deck mounting for naval use and having the invention applied to maintenance of balance about the trunnion axis.-

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a twin mounting having the invention applied to maintenance of balance about the training axis.

Referring first to Figs. 1 to 3, the gun mounting is supported on the deck a by a pedestal b in which is journalled a training base 0 with cheeks d in which the gun e is carried by a gun cradle e on trunnion journals 7. The gun e is fitted in the cradle e in slides to allow for recoil movement in the known manner. The gunner stands on the deck, as indicated in Fig. 1, trains the mounting by means of a pair of shoulder rests d on the ends of upward and rearward extensions of the cheeks d, and lays the gun by means of a pair of hand levers g connected by a parallel linkage h to move the gun e and a reflector sight i.

Between the cheeks d, a housing depending from the gun encloses a magazine k, attached to and arranged to supply live cartridges successively to the automatic loading mechanism of the gun, a chute l, for receiving up wardly and deflecting downwardly spend cartridge cases ejected from the gun, anda collector m in which the spent cases accumulate. Fig. 3 shows how the housing j, together with the magazine and case collector, moves with the gun in the laying or elevation movement of the gun.

The T-handle bolts n and n are solely for locking the mounting against turning or tilting when the gun is stowed. I

As will be seen, the magazine k and collector m in the housing j have a common line of leverage, indicated as x-x, about the trunnion axis yy and the arrangement is such that if the live cartridge cases in the magazine have a mean radius x the spent cartridge cases in thecollector have a mean radius x and theweights of a live and spent cartridge are respectively w and W2, then the moments x w and x w about the trunnion axis are equal.

In the gun mounting of Figs. 1 to 3 described above, the trunnion axis-intersects the training axis and consequently so long as the gun is balanced about the trunnion axis the balance of the mounting about the training axis is not affected.

A second example of the invention applied to a twin mounting, having a pair of magazines symmetrically arranged about the trunnion axis but which requires provision for balancing about the training axis, will now be described with reference to Fig. 4.

, The mounting is supported on the deck a by a turntable 0 and comprises a turret p in which the gunner sits and which he can train, by means of pedal levers q,' arou nd the training axis z-z.

The guns, of whichxone r is seen, are mounted in the turret p toturn in elevation, about the trunnion axis y, relatively to the turret under the control of a hand-lever laying linkage similar to that of Figs. 1 to 3.

. Arranged symmetrically about the trunnion axis at each side and moving in elevation with the guns is a box magazine 5 which feeds clip-belted ammunition to the respective gun. By a known arrangement of the belt of ammunition in each magazine s, the centre of gravity of -Patented Feb. 11, 1958 2,822,781 j e p the magazine is kept substantially on the trunnion axis despite expenditure of ammunition and consequently the guns remain in balance about the trunnion axis.

However to obtain in action balance of a mounting of this kind, the trunnion axis must lie forward of the training axis, so that the weight of the gunner is balanced with respect to the training axis by the weight of the guns. Consequently, the magazines on the trunnion axis have a moment with respect to the training axis and this moment is reduced as ammunition is expended.

To compensate for the reduction in moment of the magazines, a collector t is provided on the forward end of the turret p to catch spent cartridge cases and clips ejected forwardly from the guns. The collector t consists of a box closed on all sides except at the top and upper part of the rear wall where a rearwardly directed month t opens into the mounting to surround the path of spent cartridge cases and clips ejected from the guns. The collector t is detachably mounted on the turret p by brackets 14.

The collector t is located farther from the training axis z-z than are the magazines s so that the weight of a spent cartridge case and clip collected in the collector 1 will have the same moment with respect to the training axis as the Weight of a live cartridge and clip in a magazine, the greater leverage in the collector compensating for the loss of the weight of the projectile and charge.

The mean lines of leverage to the training axis z-z of the magazines and collector respectively are indicated as x and x and, it the weight of a live cartridge and clip together is W3 and that of a spent cartridge case and clip w, the ratio x zx must be the same as the ratio w zw and the moments x w and x w are then equal.

It should be noted that, in the above specification and in the following claims, the expression line of leverage to a given axis is given a meaning slightly difierent from its usual one, since, with reference to Fig. 4, x and x are called lines of leverage to the training axis z-z although the gravity forces exerted by magazine s and collector t cannot cause pivoting about said axis z-z. As a matter of fact, in practice, the turret may have some play which involves the possibility of a slight pivoting thereof about a horizontal axis (not shown on the drawing) penpendicular to the plane of Fig. 4 and passing through z-z and it is wtih respect to such a horizontal axis that x and x constitute the lines of leverage of magazine s and collector t respectively. However, as the position of such a horizontal axis is determined by axis zz, which it must intersect, it has been found simpler to talk, by extension, of lines of leverage to axis z-z. It will be noted that these lines of leverage are truly eifective in the same direction (that at right angles to zz toward the left.

In the accompanying claims, the expression gun mounting means is intended to include any structure for supporting a gun for pivotal movement about an aiming axis. Examples of such a structure are the pedestal b, training base and checks d in Figs. 1 to 3 or the turntable base .0 and turret p in Fig. 4. Many equivalent structures are well known in the art of gun mountings.

In a general manner, while I have, in the above description, disclosed what I deem to be practical and eflicient embodiments of my invention, it should be well understood that I do not wish to be limited thereto as there might be changes made in the arrangement, disposition and form of the parts without departing from the principle of the present invention as comprehended within the scope of the accompanying claims.

What I claim is:

1. A gun installation which comprises, in combination, a base, at least one gun, gun mounting means for supporting said gun pivotally about an aiming axis with respect to said base, a magazine for live ammunition components carried by said gun mounting means for rotation together with said gun about said aiming axis, a rigid collector for spent ammunition components carried by said gun mounting means for rotation together with said gun about said aiming axis, and means for conveying spent ammunition components ejected from said gun into said collector, the whole of said magazine, said collector and said gun mounting means being balanced with respect to said aiming axis and said magazine and said collector being located with respect to said aiming axis to have their respective lines of leverage to said axis effective in the same direction, with the mean line of leverage of said collector longer than the mean line of leverage of said magazine in the same ratio as the weight of a live ammunition component is greater than the weight of a spent ammunition component.

2. A gun installation which comprises, in combination, a base, at least one gun, gun mounting means for sup porting said gun pivotally about a normally horizontal laying axis with respect to said base, a magazine for live ammunition components carried by said gun mounting means for rotation together with said gun about said laying axis, a rigid collector for spent ammunition components carried by said gun mounting means for rotation together with said gun about said laying axis, and means for conveying spent ammunition components ejected from said gun into said collector, the whole of said magazine, said collector and said gun mounting means being balanced with respect to said laying axis and said magazine and said collector being located with respect to said laying axis to have their respective lines of leverage to said axis in line with each other and extending in the same direction, with the mean line of leverage of said collector longer than the mean line of leverage of said magazine in the same ratio as the Weight of a live ammunition component is greater than the weight of a spent ammunition component.

3. A gun installation which comprises, in combination, a base, at least one gun, gun mounting means for supporting said gun pivotally about a normally vertical training axis with respect to said base, a magazine for live ammunition components carried by said gun mounting means for rotation together with said gun about said training axis, a rigid collector for spent ammunition components carried by said gun mounting means for rotation together with said gun about said training axis, and means for conveying spent ammunition components ejected from said gun into said collector, the whole of said magazine, said collector and said gun mounting means being balanced with respect to said training axis and said magazine and said collector being located with respect to said training axis to have their respective mean centres of gravity located at respective distances from a plane passing through said training axis and at right angles to the line of fire of said gun such that the distance from the mean centre of gravity of said collector to said plane is greater than the distance from the mean centre of gravity of said magazine to said plane in the same ratio as the weight of a live ammunition component is greater than the weight of a spent ammunition component.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,016,211 Miranda Oct. 1, 1935 2,334,152 Trotter Nov. 9, 1943 2,364,425 Corte Dec. 5, 1944 2,415,153 Trimbach et al Feb. 4, 1947 2,451,614 Darsie Oct. 19, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS 715,923 Germany Jan. 9, 1942 

